HEADLINE:- The Pentagon's new Africa command raises suspicions about U.S. motives

The U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon's first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, launches Wednesday amid questions at home about its mission and deep suspicions in Africa about its intentions.

U.S. officials have billed the new command, known as Africom, as a sign of Africa's strategic importance, but many in Africa see it as an unwelcome expansion of the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a bid to secure greater access to the continent's vast oil resources. Several countries have refused to host the command, and officials say Africom will be based in Stuttgart, Germany , for the foreseeable future.

U.S.-based aid groups and some in Congress have expressed worries that Africom will tilt U.S policy in Africa away from democracy-building and economic development and toward security objectives such as stemming the growth of militant Islamist groups in Somalia and North Africa , some of which have ties to al Qaida .

U.S. covert operations in Somalia and elsewhere have fueled the controversy. In late 2006, the U.S. military provided intelligence to help Ethiopia topple a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Somalia , an invasion that's fueled a violent Islamist insurgency.

U.S. forces have since launched several strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Somalia . While one of the strikes killed a top militant commander, Aden Hashi Ayro , in May, Somalis say the attacks also killed and badly wounded civilians.

Underlining the skepticism in Washington , the House of Representatives voted last week to provide $266 million to fund Africom's first year of operations — $123 million less than President Bush had requested. The House Appropriations Committee said the reduction was due partly to "the failure to establish an Africom presence on the continent."

The fledgling command's image problem, at home and abroad, is cause for concern because of Africa's growing importance to the United States .

The Department of Energy says that 17 percent of U.S. crude oil imports now come from Africa , more than the U.S. gets from Persian Gulf countries. But rising powers such as China have strengthened their ties with Africa and become a powerful counterweight to American influence.

Pentagon officials reject claims that Africom is about oil or China , but those perceptions remain strong in Africa .

"Obviously the U.S. is concerned about China's influence, security, oil, counterterrorism, hunting down al Qaida suspects," said Erin Weir of Refugees International , a Washington -based advocacy group that's opposed Africom. "Africans read the newspaper just the same as we do, and they know what drives U.S. interests now."

Witney Schneidman , who served as deputy assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Clinton administration, said: "In many parts of Africa it is perceived as the U.S. bringing its war on terror to Africa . That is not what Africom is about, but that is how it has been seen."

While the public face of the U.S. military in Africa has been that of a benign partner, human rights activists say that the Bush administration's focus on terrorism has fueled suspicion of Africom.

"Anything to do with the U.S. military evokes some level of anxiety," said Hassan Omar , a member of the independent Kenya National Commission on Human Rights . "There is a strong feeling that America would overlook a crisis within a government or violations by certain governments if only they could secure more cooperation on matters of security."

After Bush announced the creation of Africom in February 2007 , the Pentagon began issuing mixed messages about its mission, with some officials suggesting that the new command would help "coordinate" U.S. policy in the region. Experts immediately questioned whether U.S. troops would participate in humanitarian programs and other non-combat operations that have long been run by the State Department and U.S. embassies.

Pentagon officials have acknowledged mistakes in marketing Africom, and they no longer list humanitarian projects as part of its mission. Instead, they say that Africom will support other U.S. government agencies and focus on helping bolster African militaries.

"Africom will support, not shape, U.S. foreign policy on the continent," Teresa Whelan , Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, told a congressional hearing in July.

About 1,300 people, divided roughly evenly between civilian and military positions, are expected to staff the Germany headquarters, but no additional soldiers will be deployed in Africa yet. Instead, Africom will take charge of small U.S. military teams that are already on the continent training national militaries and maritime agencies, providing immunizations, drilling wells, rebuilding schools and conducting other projects.

Africom will assume control over the largest U.S. military base in the region, the 1,500-strong Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, housed at a former French Foreign Legion facility in the tiny eastern nation of Djibouti .

Despite the questions about its mission, experts say that Africom will raise Africa's profile in the Pentagon . Currently, three separate regional "combatant commands," which manage overseas U.S. military operations, share responsibility for Africa . The U.S. Central Command oversees seven countries in East Africa , Pacific Command has three Indian Ocean island nations and European Command handles 42 other African countries from Morocco to South Africa .

Now all the countries — except Egypt , which will continue to be grouped with Middle Eastern nations under the Central Command — will fall under Africom's jurisdiction. As with the other regional commands, Africom's commander, four-star Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward , reports to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates .

"One of the basic problems of U.S. engagement with Africa historically is there's been a lack of a long-term, sustained and steady commitment," said Abiodun Williams , a Sierra Leonean who's vice president of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington . "One of the positive things about Africom is this might finally be changing."

Sunday, September 28, 2008

It appears all the fun stuff is happening in South Africa. The World Cup is going to be there in 2010, Chris Rock added South Africa on his comedy world tour which is now playing on HBO, now they have the Miss World 2008 Competition.

The U.S. and international military forces are taking more aggressive action off the African coast as bolder and more violent pirates imperil oil shipments and other trade.

The area is a key shipping route for cargo transported to and from the U.S. and elsewhere. In response to pirate attacks, the U.S. has stepped up its patrols to deter them and sometimes intervened to rescue hostages and ships. It also has increased its intelligence-sharing in the area, says Navy Lt. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, which patrols Middle Eastern and African waters.

The U.S. is "very concerned about the increasing number of acts of piracy and armed robbery" off the Somali coast, he says. Somalia's weak government has admitted it can't control its territorial waters, and Nigeria is fending off a rebel group.

A U.N. Security Council resolution, pushed by the U.S. and passed June 2, allows the U.S. and its coalition allies to intervene by "all necessary means" for the next six months to stop piracy off the Somali coast. Coalition ships have since scared off pirates in at least two attacks, says the London-based International Maritime Bureau.

Armed attacks on cargo ships, oil tankers and cruise ships are estimated to cost more than $1 billion a year, says Peter Chalk, a senior security analyst at RAND Corp. "Piracy does affect U.S. commerce. It is to the economic interest of the United States that the sea lanes are as stable as possible," Chalk says.

Piracy in Nigeria is leading to a drop in oil shipments because shipping companies are reluctant to risk ships, cargos and crew, he says. "That has implications for U.S. strategic energy supplies."

African waters account for 56% of all pirate attacks, spiking from 27 attacks in the first half of 2005 to 64 attacks since January. Meanwhile, pirate attacks elsewhere are dropping, reports the Piracy Reporting Center, a Malaysian-based group that monitors attacks for the bureau.

The attacks are more violent than in Asia, says bureau manager Cyrus Mody. Pirates near Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, Nigeria and Tanzania took 172 hostages in the first half of the year.

The Lourdes Tide, a supply ship working for a U.S. company, was attacked in Nigeria on May 13 by armed pirates who demanded a ransom. Pirates released the vessel and 11-person crew June 16.

The United Nations' World Food Program has requested military escorts to get its ships carrying 32,000 tons of food each month into Somalia, where civil strife and drought have worsened the food crisis. A Dutch frigate ended its escort mission in June, says Peter Smerdon, the group's spokesman in Africa.

Ships alter course by hundreds of miles and expend as much as a day's supply of fuel to avoid Somali pirates, says Michael Livanos, president of Scio Shipping, based in New York. "The costs are gigantic," he says.

The bold pirate attacks along the African coast come as attacks decline in a key Asian shipping lane.

The U.S. military says it donated equipment, coordinated joint training exercises and nudged Indonesia to cooperate with its two maritime neighbors, Singapore and Malaysia. It wanted the three countries to get control of the Strait of Malacca, an important waterway for oil shipments, cargo and cruise ships.

"It's as critical a chunk of water as exists anywhere in the world," says Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.

Their efforts seem to be working. Ships sailing near Indonesia reported 13 attacks between Jan. 1 and June 30, down from 64 in the first six months of 2003 — an 80% drop, according to the Maritime Bureau's half-yearly report. Ships reported two attacks in the Malacca Strait so far this year.

The U.S. bolstered Indonesia's Coast Guard and Navy with 15 high-speed patrol boats and seven radar units. It trained with navies from all three countries and persuaded them to share intelligence about ships passing through international and territorial waters. Malaysia coordinated a joint air patrol with neighboring countries to surveil the waterway.

"If it wasn't safe to bring cargo through the Strait of Malacca, the U.S. Navy would go there and make it safe," says Vice Adm. Doug Crowder, who commands the U.S. 7th Fleet, based in Japan. Crowder says the cooperation now makes that unnecessary.

That same formula is unlikely to work in Africa. "If you were to try to call the leader of Somalia and ask to come for a visit, who do you call?" Keating says.

Friday, September 26, 2008

JOHANNESBURG — Kgalema Motlanthe, 59, a former trade unionist once imprisoned during the apartheid era on charges of terrorism, was overwhelmingly elected Thursday by Parliament as South Africa’s president.

But whether he merely keeps the seat warm until elections next year — when Jacob Zuma, his party’s leader, presumably will take over — depends on whether Mr. Zuma, 66, can continue to skirt the corruption charges that have long followed him.

Two weeks ago, a High Court judge not only threw out those charges on procedural grounds, but also implied that President Thabo Mbeki and his cabinet had meddled in the case. The opinion led the hierarchy of the governing African National Congress to demand that Mr. Mbeki step down, leading to the quick ascension of Mr. Motlanthe (pronounced moht-LAH-tay) as an interim president.

The judge’s action, however, has been appealed by the National Prosecuting Authority. If the appeal succeeds, or if the charges against Mr. Zuma are simply filed again after the procedural mistakes are corrected, party elders could view Mr. Motlanthe as an ace in the hole rather than as a caretaker.

The A.N.C. dominates the political landscape here. In the last national elections, in 2004, it won nearly 70 percent of the votes.

But Robert B. Mattes, the director of social science research at the University of Cape Town, said that an ever-larger portion of the population had grown disenchanted with the party since the days of Nelson Mandela.

“This is reflected in a 30-point decline in voter turnout between 1994 and 2004,” he said. “Black voters unhappy with the A.N.C. simply stay at home rather than switch their allegiance to an opposition party.”

Cynics here suggest that the entire reason for sidelining Mr. Mbeki was to make sure that Mr. Zuma’s legal problems disappeared.

Mr. Mbeki is suspected of suspending Vusi Pikoli, the leader of the National Prosecuting Authority, last year to stop the intended prosecution of a political ally, Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. To some in the A.N.C., a similar dismissal now to protect Mr. Zuma might seem a practicable tactic.

But such a strategy would also seem venal — and Mr. Zuma has already been buffeted by years of accusations. In 2005, his financial adviser was convicted of brokering bribes Mr. Zuma’s way, which led to the corruption case.

In 2006, Mr. Zuma was acquitted on charges of raping a 31-year-old family friend. He testified that the woman had courted sex by sitting provocatively, and his Zulu upbringing had left him no choice but to oblige her.

Mr. Motlanthe is as reserved as Mr. Zuma is gregarious. The new president is not well known to many South Africans, though he is a familiar figure in the party He spent 10 years imprisoned on Robben Island. He became active in the labor movement as an officer with the miners. He was the A.N.C.’s secretary general from 1997 to 2007.

After being sworn in on Thursday in Cape Town, Mr. Motlanthe promised to keep South Africa on much the same path Mr. Mbeki had followed. “Mine is not a desire to deviate from what is working,” he said.

He announced the reappointment of the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, who is credited with keeping the nation’s economy at a hum. He announced one major change, however. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been given a new position as a minister in the presidency. In her previous job, health minister, she became a polarizing figure for espousing beetroot, garlic and lemon as a cure for AIDS. The new minister of health will be Barbara Hogan, a senior A.N.C. member of Parliament who is viewed as a welcome choice by groups that campaign for the distribution of antiretroviral medications.

Zackie Achmat, an anti-AIDS advocate, told a South African television reporter, “It’s a great day.”

Monday, September 22, 2008

A consortium of wealthy Nigerians are planning to take over Newcastle United, according to reports in Africa.

Current owner Mike Ashley is trying to find a buyer for the ailing Premier League club, after proving unsuccessful with his initial efforts to secure a sale and Ashley has announced he wants to sell his interest in Newcastle just 16 months after staging a £134.4million takeover.

However, a Nigerian company claim they have £350million behind them - and are bidding to secure the remaining funding which would improve their chances of a successful takeover.

Chief Executive Officer of the NVA Management, Chris Nathaniel, whose company are handling the deal, wants to make Nigeria the first African country to own a Premier League club.

He told the KickOffNigeria website: ''All along I have been working hard to get wealthy and football loving Nigerian entrepreneurs to buy the club since Mike Ashley indicated his willingness to sell the club to the person, people or entrepreneurs who can meet the £400million selling price of the club.

''Right now I am happy to tell you that well meaning Nigerians have responded and the consortium of Nigerian entrepreneurs has so far contributed £350million to buy the club.

''Ashley has stood his ground that he won't sell the club until the money is raised to the asking price of £400million.

''So what that means is that we need to raise another £50million or £100million to shut the door behind the other top Arab companies who are also interested in the club.

''The Arab companies have also indicated interest and made offers - but they haven't met the asking price too.''

NVA handle Rio Ferdinand's PR and commercial interests and also arranged the pre-World Cup friendly between England and Croatia at Old Trafford in 2006. They further name Premier League wingers Wayne Routledge and Julian Gray amongst their other clients.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie and partner Brad Pitt have donated $2 million (1.12 million pounds) to create a centre, named after their adopted daughter, Zahara, for Ethiopian children affected by AIDS and tuberculosis.

The Global Health Committee said the donation from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation would establish a centre in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to treat AIDS orphans and develop a program to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The Oscar-winning Jolie adopted a baby girl she called Zahara, now 3 years old, from Ethiopia in July 2005 and the new clinic will be named after her.

"It is our hope that when Zahara is older, she will take responsibility for the clinic and continue its mission," Pitt said in a statement.

Pitt and Jolie now have six children -- twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline born in July, Shiloh, 2, and adopted children Zahara, Pax from Vietnam and Maddox from Cambodia.

The Jolie-Pitt Foundation helped set up a similar clinic in 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia that is named after Maddox.

"Our goal is to transfer the success we have had in Cambodia to Ethiopia where people are needlessly dying of tuberculosis, a curable disease, and HIV/AIDS, a treatable disease," Jolie said.

Ethiopia has the seventh-highest rate of tuberculosis disease in the world and an estimated 1.7 million people in the country are infected with HIV, according to the World Health Organization. UNICEF estimates that more than 900,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS in Ethiopia.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Nigerian writer and recording artist, Olushola Dada, 29, tells the BBC's Africa Have Your Say programme what it is like being single, ambitious and female in Africa and if society's view on marriage is changing.

The pressure starts when you turn 25.

No-one will say you are a failure because you are not married yet but the pressure does begin.

You have graduated from university and then everyone naturally expects you to get married and settle down.

People wonder about the individuals that you spend time with and whether or not they may be 'the one'.

Even when you go to church: it is taken as given that church is a good place to meet a suitable husband. Everyone starts checking if someone notices you, finds you interesting.

Everyone even says prayers for you to be married.

You haven't made it

And so the pressure grows. And then the more successful you become, the more society frowns.

AFRICA HAVE YOUR SAYToday's African woman have generally lost touch and lack the character of submission to live with a manMacaulay Akinbami, Lagos

Is it good to be single?

Society looks at you, and it doesn't matter how successful you may be - if you have your own house, a car, how much you earn...

If you don't have a husband, then within the community, you haven't made it.

I have always been someone who believes that you do not have to get married for the sake of it and I do not put myself under pressure.

Yes, I do want to marry one day; and yes, I definitely want to have children.

But I do not see getting married as an achievement.

Anxiety

I see it as a life choice - something that you accept if it comes to you and enriches your life.

If it comes to you but lessens you - puts you in a box or takes something away from you, then you should not take it.

Most of my girlfriends, though, the ones who are my age or older, do not have the same attitude as me - most of my single friends are anxious to get married.

Unlike me.

The thing is though, here in Nigeria, every woman is brought up in a traditional manner. Even if you go through social studies school text books you will see how the roles of men and women are outlined:

The father must be greeted in the morning, father gives you money... and the mother cooks, the mother nurses the baby, the mother cleans.

More free

So you are almost trained to take up that role.

If you are a woman, you must feel privileged to be educated but then after that you must wed and 'build' a home.

I think that this is quite standard for most parts of the world where there are strong spiritual and cultural influences.

Although I have never travelled out of Nigeria, I get the idea that women in some other parts of the world are more free.

Women should not have to place marriage before their life. Women have to learn to be individuals first.

Like men. A man will get married and make sure it works for him - I hear Nigerian men saying how they must get married so they can have someone to wash for them, clean for them, cook for them, etc.

Conscious choice

They have the attitude that marriage will make their life easier. So should we as women. Otherwise it is not worth it.

I feel woman have to make a conscious choice to break away and be their own individual.

Maybe it is because of my own personal experience with my parents. In particular, from observing my mum:

She gave her whole life to her marriage and today she has a lot of unfulfilled dreams.

I do not think she feels it was worth it; and that has definitely affected me. If marriage is going to fulfil my life and add to it in a way that nothing else can then sure, I will have it.

But if not, no.

So far, I have not found that my career has suffered because of my views but that might be because of the sector I work in. I can imagine there are lots of women in other lines of work that do.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to invest over $250 million in the cement industry in Ethiopia, according to media reports here on Tuesday.

According to local media reports, Aliko under his company, Dangote Industries Ltd., have taken investment license during the past months from the Ethiopian Investment Agency.

Accordingly, his company will in week’s time start its construction works in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia, which is known for its many investment opportunities.

According to a report by a local newspaper; Addis Admass, the representative of Dangote Industries Ltd in Ethiopia, Teshome Lemma has indicated that their planned factory will have the capacity to produce 2.5 million metric tons of cement annually.

The factory, which promises to be the biggest investment in the cement industry in Ethiopia, is expected to create job opportunities for over 2,000 Ethiopians.

Ethiopia is currently facing cement scarcity due to the construction boom in Addis Ababa. As a result, the country is also currently importing a huge amount of cement to tackle the shortage.

According to available information, at the age of 21, Aliko Dangote became a stock trader from a loan by his uncle. After he built his company, the Dangote Group, into a conglomerate with interest in sugar, flour milling, cement and salt processing, he struck gold when his sugar production company was listed on the Nigerian stock exchange in 2006. Presently, the Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria and it is also Nigeria’s largest industrial group.

Dangote is ranked the 334th richest man in the world with $3 billion. Ethiopia’s Sheik Al-Amoudi is said to be the richest African with $9 billion. He is also involved n the cement industry in Ethiopia.

Friday, September 05, 2008

ITS FRIDAY!!! What a week. Mad busy. School is back in full swing, work is on high gear and it is hot as [insert word].

It appears Africa is(actually has been for some time)the next frontier for multi national corporations. Recruitment efforts for Africans in the diaspora for positions on the continent have increased substantially.

What would it take to woo you to accept one of these positions? Let's even take a step further, let's say a position on the continent but not in your home country? Other nationals are taking advantage of these opportunities O!

Monday, September 01, 2008

What about my 20 acres and a mule? Libya just closed a deal for $5 Billion!

Article: Italy seals Libya colonial deal

Mr Berlusconi (left) and Col Gaddafi shook hands

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay Libya $5bn as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes. Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi said the settlement signed in the city of Benghazi opened the door to partnership between the two states. Mr Berlusconi said the deal, which sees the money being released over 25 years, ended "40 years of misunderstanding". Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s. The former Ottoman territory became an independent country in 1951. This is the first African country to be compensated by a former colonial master, the BBC's Rana Jawad reports from Benghazi. The question is, she adds: will this latest move set precedents for other former African countries to follow suit?

Coastal motorway

Mr Berlusconi explained that $200m would be paid annually over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects, the main one being a coastal motorway between the Egyptian and Tunisian borders. The headless statue was displayed when the two leaders met There will also be a colonial-era mine clearing project. As a goodwill gesture, Italy also returned an ancient statue of Venus, the headless "Venus of Cyrene", which had been taken to Rome in colonial times.

The settlement was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era", the Italian prime minister said. "In this historic document, Italy apologises for its killing, destruction and repression against Libyans during the colonial rule," Col Gaddafi said for his part. The agreement was signed in the Benghazi palace which once housed the Italian colonial administration, Reuters news agency reports.

Rome and Tripoli have spent years arguing over compensation for the colonial period.Mr Berlusconi's one-day trip was his second since June when illegal immigration from Africa to Europe was the key issue of talks. Italy has been swamped by thousands of African migrants trying to reach its shores by boat. Libya has come in from the diplomatic cold since 2003 when it abandoned efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to make the first high-ranking American visit to Libya since 1953.